Sept. 11-14
7:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. — 95th Street Circle East. Vehicle burglaries. Unknown suspect(s) entered several unoccupied vehicles, which were parked at three homes in Braden Woods, and stole items. One of the vehicles was a truck that had electronic equipment inside. Latent prints were obtained on at least one of the cases. No other leads are known at this time.

LAKEWOOD RANCH
Sept. 7
10:10 p.m. — 8300 block of Market Street. Assault. The victim witnessed a hit-and-run accident and observed the defendant run from the scene. The victim ran after the defendant and during the chase, the defendant told the victim more than 10 times that he was going to kill him with a 9 mm handgun. A gun wasn’t visible, but the victim stated a number of times that he fears for his and his family’s safety.

Reported Sept. 11
5:15 p.m. — 7400 block of Vista Way. Identity theft. The complainant reported unknown person(s) used her identity to transfer money from her account to another account without her authorization. The transfer was done online from her Bank of America account in the amount of $270.

MILL CREEK
Sept. 13
12:30 a.m. — 300 block of 133rd Street East. Burglary to a conveyance. The suspect entered the vehicles through an unlocked door and removed $1,055 in merchandise. No fingerprints were obtained at the time of the report because the vehicles were parked outside in the rain and were still wet. A pair of shoes and gloves were recovered at the scene and placed into property. The victims were advised to call the sheriff’s office in the morning when the cars were dry to have them processed for latent prints.

RIVERDALE
Sept. 11
11:30 p.m. — 4200 block of Third Avenue Northeast. Grand theft auto. The juvenile suspects took the vehicle without their parents or grandfather’s permission. They were later arrested and transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center for processing.

SUMMERFIELD
Reported Sept. 12
8:45 a.m. — 6200 block of Yellowtop Drive. Criminal mischief. Unknown person(s) smashed the driver’s side window of the victim’s vehicle with an unknown object. The estimated value of the damage is $300. Nothing was reported missing from the vehicle.

10:30 a.m. — 11800 block of Soft Rush Terrace. Criminal mischief. Unknown person(s) smashed the driver’s side door window from the victim’s vehicle. Nothing was reported missing from the vehicle, and the door was still locked. No printing was done on the vehicle because it was raining at the time of the report.

OTHER
Aug. 14 to Sept. 14
Unknown time — 4706 Wauchula Road (Peace River Electric Substation). Copper wire theft. Sometime between Aug. 14 and Sept. 14, unknown suspect(s) cut through the perimeter fence of the unmanned electrical substation. Once inside, the suspect(s) cut numerous copper ground wires running from the heave equipment, totaling about 100 feet in length. The stolen wire is valued at about $100. The facility continued to operate without the ground wires until a repair crew incidentally discovered the crime today. It took five linemen two hours to fix the lines. The power was turned off for about 2,500 customers while the repairs were being made.

Sept. 9
2 p.m. — 8320 Lockwood Ridge Road (Wal-Mart). Lost property. The complainant reported he lost his wallet at an unknown location. He said he believes it may have been somewhere between the checkout line at Wal-Mart to his vehicle that was parked in the parking lot. He reported that he checked the area and with the store’s lost and found but had negative results. The total value of the wallet is $198.

Sept. 11
2 p.m. — The intersection of Lena Road and State Road 64. Grand theft. The complainant reported that several business employees were out on a job when one of the employees placed a weed eater down on the side of the road and walked back to his work vehicle, which was about 50-75 feet away. A few moments later, the employee began walking back toward the weed eater during which time he witnessed a small green passenger vehicle pull over onto the side of the road near the weed eater. Two males, possibly Hispanic, exited the vehicle, took the weed eater and then fled the area in the vehicle.

CORRAL YOUR COPPER
Copper thieves and other metal thieves are running rampant in Manatee County. One of the latest victims of copper theft is backflow devices. The location of these devices, close to the road, makes them an easy target for metal thieves.

What can you do? Simple: Plant some thorny bushes or plants around it or enclose it with a cage or box. Also, if you are sleeping and you are woken up by running water (and it’s not your watering day), don’t brush it off. Get up and look out front.

Do your part and help prevent these thefts. They are easy targets but simple little steps can be taken to help prevent them from being stolen.

If you observe a copper theft, you can report it to Crime Stoppers by phone at 1 (866) 634-TIPS (8477).